NICOLA Sturgeon has warned Boris Johnson that any move to ease the lockdown at the same time across the UK must go at the pace of the "slowest" part of the country. 

The First Minister said no part of the UK should be forced to lift the coronavirus restrictions before the evidence says it is safe to do so. 

Evidence suggests the R number – the reproduction rate of the virus – is higher in Scotland than it is elsewhere in the UK, indicating it may be slightly behind on the road to recovery.

A spokesman for Ms Sturgeon said she had raised this point with Cabinet Office minister Michael Gove during a call on Tuesday.

Boris Johnson is set to unveil plans to ease the lockdown on Sunday, but the Scottish Government has made clear it will follow its own advice. 

The Prime Minister previously said the UK is "past the peak" of the coronavirus pandemic, putting him at odds with Ms Sturgeon's more cautious approach.

Speaking during First Minister's Questions, Ms Sturgeon said the Scottish Government had published its "best assessment" that Scotland's R number is now between 0.7 and 1.

She said: "We also said that there is an indication that it may, right now, by slightly higher in Scotland than in other parts of the UK, although there's a significant degree of uncertainty in that. 

"If that was the case, there would be some common sense attached to that. 

"Our first confirmed cases were later, so we may be slightly behind the curve, and that may only be by a matter of days."

She added: "We all want – and I certainly want – as much consistency as possible, not least because it makes the messaging a lot simpler. 

"But we either accept that there may be different paces dictated by the different stages of the infection, or we accept, within Scotland and within the UK, that to simplify this – we all go at the pace of the slowest, if you like.

"Because what we can't have – and I hope everybody would agree with this – is no part of the UK, or no area forced into a position where they're lifting restrictions before the evidence says that it is safe to do so."

Ms Sturgeon later added: "We can have a 'four nations' approach that is coordinated and accepts there will be some differences of pace depending on evidence. That would be perfectly legitimate. 

"Or we can decide that doing the same thing at the same time is what matters most. Either of those is legitimate. 

"If it is the latter...we must go at the pace of the part of the UK that is furthest behind in the infection curve, because not to do that would lead to parts of the UK potentially lifting restrictions before it was safe to do so. 

"And that is the worry I would have, and what I'm not prepared to countenance here."

Scottish Conservative leader Jackson Carlaw, who had questioned her on the issue, said he agreed with this. 

He said consistency of messaging had worked well so far, but warned that may be at risk if Ms Sturgeon pursues a different path out of the pandemic to the rest of the UK.

He said: “One thing we’ve learned from this crisis is that simplicity saves lives.

“That’s why it’s so important that there is a consistency of messaging across the UK about what’s safe, and what isn’t.

“So far it hasn’t mattered where you live, what you watch or which paper you read – the stay-at-home message has been unequivocally clear.

“But there’s a risk now, with increasing divergence, that the simplicity of messaging will be lost.

“Some normality is beginning to return elsewhere in the UK, and people in Scotland are wondering why that can’t be the case here.

“We’ve been clear from the start that, when the SNP wants to take a divergent approach, it must set out exactly why that’s of benefit.

“Unfortunately, so far that evidence has been severely lacking.”